Evraz raised its Uzlovaya vanadium-plant estimate in Russia to $260 million from $228 million, Interfax reported on 3 July 2024. Vanadium director Denis Pavlyuchenkov cited materials, contractors, equipment and automation costs. Construction and equipment installation continued; summer 2025 remained the intended production start.
Planned annual capacity
- 100,000 tonnes of raw materials.
- 19,000 physical tonnes of vanadium pentoxide.
The earlier processing plan
In a 17 September 2021 interview, vanadium director Alexander Erenburg explained that Evraz's Tula operation processed only half its vanadium slag. External processing entailed transport costs and payments to partners. The new factory was intended to bring more processing inside the group, with capacity measured as vanadium contained in products rising from 7,500 to 15,000–17,000 tonnes annually.
That interview envisaged first oxide in September 2024 and design-capacity operation in 2025. Erenburg described plans for a second furnace and crusher at the existing Tula facility, and vanadium recovery rising from 83% to 86% over two years.
Investment recorded in the annual report
Evraz's 2021 annual report listed $13 million of spending on construction of the Uzlovaya vanadium-processing facility during that year. Its strategic-priorities section separately carried a total project estimate of $228 million. The capital-expenditure review described the project's aim as improving cost efficiency through a processing chain controlled and coordinated from slag to finished product.
Across the group, annual capital expenditure totalled $920 million: $517 million on maintenance and $403 million on development. Those group totals covered a wider investment programme than the Uzlovaya project.
The industry's production measures
The US Geological Survey's January 2024 vanadium summary estimated world mine production at 100,000 tonnes in 2023, including 20,000 tonnes in Russia. Its tables measure vanadium content unless otherwise stated. These measures differ from the physical weight of vanadium pentoxide given for the new plant.
The survey describes vanadium as generally recovered as a byproduct or coproduct, with significant resources in titaniferous magnetite and other minerals. It also identifies steel as central to the market and notes continued growth in installations of vanadium redox flow batteries for large-scale energy storage, alongside competition from alternative battery technologies.
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